To be honest, I knew about the existence of the word 'troll' only after reading The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The other times I came across this word was in Facebook where there are humourous pictures from a group/individual called 'Troll.' Well, I was in for a surprise when I received a text message from a dear friend saying that I had been trolled. "What the heck?" was my response as I was only thinking of Tolkien's trolls. I was not some nasty and stupid troll. Chances that I may be one cannot be dismissed but from middle-earth, certainly not! And then I realised that I was not a troll but there was someone who had trolled me. Get the drift?!
So what does this word 'Troll' mean? When I googled this word, I was dumb-folded to find that our Wiki has a page devoted to the word! Alas! my limited and ancient vocabulary did not register this word. I read on with interest and discovered many amusing facts about the word which is touted as 'internet lingo.' I have been using the internet for quite some time now but have never read about the 'troll' word. But what the internet does not have is the word, 'trolled' and so I am wondering if I can add to the already existing usage of the word. The Urban Dictionary defines the word thus:
The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue. Trolling doe not mean just making rude remarks: Shouting swear words at someone doesn't count as trolling; it's just flaming, and isn't funny. Spam isn't trolling either; its pisses people off, but it's lame.
But what is interesting to me is whether I could connect the Urban Dictionary's definition of 'troll' to Tolkien's troll. Again referring to Wiki, Tolkien's troll is described thus:
Trolls are large humanoids of great strength and poor intellect.
Well, I definitely do see an obvious connection here ;) I will not go into details as you can gather them for yourselves.
You must be wondering as to what prompted this post. The title says it all, I was trolled and the one who trolled me was not a humanoid but a human who I believe, possesses great strength but poor intellect, in the norm of Tolkien's trolls but not from Middle Earth!
A new word is always useful, isn't it?
Image 1: Tolkien's Cave Troll - Internet
Image 2: Wiki Troll-face - Internet
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| Cave Troll |
The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue. Trolling doe not mean just making rude remarks: Shouting swear words at someone doesn't count as trolling; it's just flaming, and isn't funny. Spam isn't trolling either; its pisses people off, but it's lame.
But what is interesting to me is whether I could connect the Urban Dictionary's definition of 'troll' to Tolkien's troll. Again referring to Wiki, Tolkien's troll is described thus:
Trolls are large humanoids of great strength and poor intellect.
Well, I definitely do see an obvious connection here ;) I will not go into details as you can gather them for yourselves.
You must be wondering as to what prompted this post. The title says it all, I was trolled and the one who trolled me was not a humanoid but a human who I believe, possesses great strength but poor intellect, in the norm of Tolkien's trolls but not from Middle Earth!
A new word is always useful, isn't it?
Image 1: Tolkien's Cave Troll - Internet
Image 2: Wiki Troll-face - Internet
Sometimes the comments are more interesting than the article. I especially love it when someone criticizes another commenter about misspelled words with an atrociously written and misspelled comment. I once commented on my daughter's post and used the word "eloquent". A classmate of hers did not know I was the mother. He proceeded to correct me by saying: "Fail! learn to spell elegent"
ReplyDeleteHahahahahaah! That poor kid got a beating and ribbing from his friends. I did not have to do anything. I think he learned the meaning of the words elegant and eloquent that day.
Welcome here, Ces. Glad to have you here.
DeleteAs you have mentioned, words are always a delight and the more we know, the better it is.
ugh...there are def trolls out there...with nothing better to do than to try and get under your skin....sorry you had to go through that...
ReplyDeletei am reading LOTR with my son right now...
LOTR is such a delight. Glad that you're reading it with your son. Smiles.
Deletehaha I love the connection you drew between the different types of "trolls"... ;)
ReplyDeleteSmiles.
DeleteTrolled, I was :)
i hope the chap reads this and feels ashamed.
ReplyDeleteTime :)
DeleteHmmm Well well I will tell you its not just TROLLS who do such things, funnily enough some supposedly decent bloggers are also managing to do the same tooo ..
ReplyDeleteI just ignore these trolls as they are not worth wasting my time on them ...
but hey you are a celebrity are the trolls and stalkers not associated with FAME :) he he he h
Bikram's
Waah! maan gaye Bikramji. Happy to read your comment :)
DeleteLoved your take Susan :D
ReplyDeleteThis Troll connection was something very new to Me...added another word to my every growing vocabulary thanks to Facebook!
Great. Even I learnt the word last week. Perhaps two days before you ;)
DeleteLmao...enough said.
ReplyDeleteHA!!!Ha!! HA!!! "poor intellect" is the most charitable thing we can say about him Susan...
ReplyDeleteYou know better, Dok ;)
DeleteGood Morning (In the U.S. at least):
ReplyDeleteWow! Can't believe you were the victim of something like this, Susan. You don't seem the type. Alas, it takes all kinds, right?
--
Chris
Yes, it takes all kinds! One never knows what goes wrong and where.
DeleteI confess when I saw your link on Facebook I was confused, but curious. I am always in awe of what people write in response to my posts. Thanks for the smile.
ReplyDeleteCuriosity leads you everywhere. glad to see you here, dear Brenda :)
DeleteHe he Susan, I will troll you! I have heard of the term but never quite knew what it meant. Thanks for educating some of us on this term!
ReplyDeleteOh please troll me and when you do mention it to me.
DeleteReal education begins here ;)
I know the trolls Susan Deborah... I share a link to my blog once a week on a local site called edhat. Every week on edhat I get at least one comment telling me how much I stink and that I should stop or that they're never reading my stuff again because it makes them dumber or something... and yet they are there the next week saying the same thing. What type of person reads your posts weekly just to insult you? A troll.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry they got to you too. It is amusing, but not sometimes. :)
A troll can be anywhere, any time. I was quite surprised as I am a very mild person but then one never knows what provokes people.
DeleteHi Susan. I wonder if you're aware that Tolkien didn't invent trolls. They are an integral part of Scandinavian (Viking) folklore, and Tolkien, who was a professor of Anglo-Saxon, drew a lot of his inspiration from Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology for both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The landscape of both books is the landscape of Iceland.
ReplyDeleteNo Dennis. I first read of trolls only in The Lord of the Rings. I was aware that Tolkien was an academic but didn't read up more on the source of his materials. Thanks for enlightening me, Dennis.
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